In Episode 112 of Overthink, Ellie and David pick apart hyperreality: our reality today is so inundated by signs that the gap between reality and simulation has all but broken down. From its presence in Superman and Bridgerton to its uncanny role in legitimizing presidential power.

Ellie and David analyze success in everything from Zhuangzi’s tales to the corporate world of buzzwords. They discuss party planning, tenure tracks, inspirational quotes, haters, why science seems so successful, and the pitfalls of thinking we’ve got it all figured out.

From Kant’s distinction between organisms and mechanisms, to Deleuze and Guattari’s infamous call for ‘bodies without organs,’ Ellie and David uncover and question the ontological and metaphorical baggage behind organisms. In the bonus, they discuss relations between organisms, politics, and reason through the thought of Lukács and Canguilhem.

Ellie and David discuss fun, from its aesthetic opposition to the highbrow realm of beauty, to questions like: what role does fun play in the good life? How does fun relate to art, play, and ritual? Can you really have fun by yourself? And what happens when the lines blur between the fun and the political?

Ellie and David discuss civil disobedience in the present context of university activism for divestment from genocide in Gaza. They chart the concept in political theory, from Thoreau and MLK through to today. Together with guest Noëlle McAfee, Chair of the Philosophy Department at Emory University, they reflect on the relationship between legal protest, civil disobedience, and political dialogue, and think about why activism must be part of any healthy democracy.

Overthink goes meta! In the 100th episode Ellie and David reflect on the podcast’s journey and use psychology to understand overthinking as the distracting voice inside your head and a welcome relief from traumatic memories. With John Dewey and the Frankfurt School, they look at different ways to understand the role of overthinking in philosophy and the humanities.

From Plato’s spotless Republic to Saudi Arabia’s futuristic The Line, they talk the foul and the vibrant of what it means to live in a city. Why are there so few public plazas in Brasilia? Why did David lose his wallet in Mexico City? How do gridded street layouts reflect colonial fantasies?

“They find our bodies repulsive.” On episode 96 of Overthink, Ellie and David bring on Dr. Kate Manne, philosopher and author of Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia. She explains the moral failures and biomedical perils of our fatphobic culture and diets. They look at the politics of fat, fatness, and fatphobia for questions of accessibility, justice, and intimacy, discussing the BMI, Ozempic, and more.

What does it mean to live in a world? Animal spirit masters in Labrador to the foundations of climate science, they investigate concepts of nature, culture, and the idyllic nurturing earth with Hannah Arendt and Arturo Escobar. Do animals have worlds? And what is a world where many worlds fit?

Ellie and David investigate the history of kitsch as an aesthetic category distinct from art. How does the superficiality and mass-reproducibility of kitsch explain its uses as a tool of propaganda?

Deleuze suggests we’ve moved from a society characterized by Foucault’s panopticon to a society of control. Ellie and David talk TSA, smartphones listening to you, and more.